Description
The self-titled full-length debut album by the American indie-pop band Bon Voyage (featuring Jason Martin of Starflyer 59 fame and his wife Julie on vocals) was released on BEC Recordings in March 1998, a division of Tooth & Nail Records. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Gene Eugene of Adam Again fame. All songs written by Jason Martin.
The album was preceded by two 7-inch vinyl singles released on Velvet Blue Music in 1996 and 1997, entitled Issue I (“Be What I Need”, b/w “You’re Wonderful”) and Issue II (“Honeymoon”, b/w “We Know How You Feel”), respectively.
The camera and the microphone both love Julie Martin, the lead singer who fronts Southern California’s Bon Voyage. But there’s more to this fairly original new band than a pretty face and voice.
The group’s guitarist is Jason Martin, Julie’s husband. As leader of Starflyer 59, he has toyed with most every guitar style known to rock ‘n’ roll. Here the base is pop feedback like early Jesus & Mary Chain or Sonic Youth lately, but shards of Hawaiian lounge sensibility and (yes) the big sound of ’60s Clint Eastwood western movie soundtracks figures prominently, too. Rumbling bass and spiky flights of keyboard fancy round it out.
To this Julie adds a voice like honeyed vinegar. The sweetness on its surface is integrated into spells of sadness, encouragement to the weary and romantic desire in varying degrees of sultriness and innocence. It’s like the culmination of the breathy, tonally pure girl-pop tradition descending from Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield to Abba and The Cardigans in godly, matrimonial guise.
As for romance in song, it comes on strong in «Kiss My Lips» and «You Got It, I Want It». «Honeymoon» and «You’re Wonderful» are less direct but no less sublimely brimming with pop hooks.
«No Paradise» and «West Coast Friendship» reveal Bon Voyage’s empathetic shoulder to cry on and melancholy encouragement. It’s the foam on the wave of the group’s discordant wave of pop bliss thrills. [Jamie Lee Rake, CCM, May 1998]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/bon-voyage/723398351)
CD tracklist:
01. Honeymoon – 3:23
02. Kiss My Lips – 5:02
03. West Coast Friendship – 3:46
04. Why Can’t You Be – 2:50
05. You’re Wonderful – 4:05
06. You Got It, I Want It – 2:38
07. I Just Wanna (Be With You) – 2:50
08. We Know How You Feel – 3:13
09. Together – 1:28
10. No Paradise – 3:15
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by BEC Recordings.
A full-page advertisement for Bon Voyage’s self-titled debut album was featured in the March 1998 issue of CCM Magazine.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.